Although the surface of earth is largely covered with water, only 3 per cent is fresh water, which is available to the global community for meeting its entire needs -- household, industrial, irrigation for food production and more.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s thirst for water has been rising due to the population growth, climate change and failure of successive governments to build more water reservoirs.

From a water abundant country in 1947 that possessed 5,600 cubic metres of water per person, Pakistan has already become a water scarce country possessing about 1,000 cubic metres of water per person. According to international standards, countries having water reservoirs below 1,100 cubic metre water per person are considered among the chronic water shortage states.

The scarcity of water and electricity has impeded the sustained growth of Pakistan’s agriculture and industry.

Despite the scarcity of water resource, even the available fresh water supply is under stress due to drying up of river basins, burgeoning human population, increased urbanisation, climatic change and detrimental policy choices. While Pakistan has been able to utilise only 13 per cent of its hydel resources during the last 68 years, some countries make optimum use of these resources. For example, the US has developed 497 per cent storage capacity of the annual flow of river Colorado, Egypt 281 per cent on river Nile and India 35 per cent on Sutlej and Bias basin.

India, Nepal and Bhutan have planned more than 400 hydropower projects in the mountain region of Himalayas to provide over 160,000MW of electricity -- three times more than the UK currently uses. Many other nations also remain engaged in building mega water reservoirs. China is building 95 major dams with a height of 200 feet or more, Turkey 51, Iran 48 and Japan 40.

India alone aims to construct 292 dams, doubling the current hydropower capacity and contributing 6 per cent to projected national energy needs. If all dams are constructed, as proposed in 28 of 32 river valleys, the Indian Himalayas would have one of the highest average dam densities in the world, with one dam for every 32km of river channel. This could make Himalayas the most dammed region in the world over the next 15-20 years.

Bangladesh is fearful of India’s plans for water diversion and hydropower. The Bangladesh government scientists say that even a 10 per cent reduction in the water flow by India would dry out great areas of farmland for much of the year. Pakistan has similar fears due to India’s massive tempering, since 1980s, with Pakistani rivers originating from the Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir.

In fact, India had started creating problems for Pakistan as early as April 1, 1948. In the wake of rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the World Bank brokered the Indus Waters Treaty between the two countries in 1960. Under the Treaty, India has rights to waters of rivers Sutlej, Ravi and Beas (eastern rivers), while Pakistan to the water of rivers Indus, Chenab and Jhelum (western rivers) as a lower riparian.

India’s BJP-led administration, headed by Narendra Modi, seems to have further geared up efforts to use water as a weapon of war against Pakistan.

In this context, one would like to remind the readers about the Indian Prime Minister Modi’s recent statements to block Pakistan’s access to water.

Pakistan’s inability to harness its water resources has surprised many visiting dignitaries. During a visit to Pakistan in 1998, President Suleman Demirel of Turkey was flown over River Indus to show him the Karakoram mountain range. En-route, writes Gohar Ayub Khan, then Minister for Water and Power, in his book Glimpses into the corridors of power, "President Demirel asked one of his ministers to look out of the window and tell him what he could see. The minister replied: ‘I see vast barren mountains.’ The President asked him to have a better look, but the Minister gave him the same answer. President Demirel looked out and said, ‘Look at river Indus, it is untapped power for Pakistan’."

Presently, Pakistan uses about 50 per cent of the 140MAF of its available run-off water, i.e. water that falls on the country and is collected in rivers, lakes and streams, in a normal year. It draws about 70MAF from underground springs and natural reservoirs. Of the 210MAF water, some 100MAF is consumed for irrigating 40 million acres of land, while some 40MAF reach the Indus Delta. Out of the water that escapes to the sea, some 36MAF of water can be controlled and utilised for irrigation and generation of pollution free hydropower.

However, this can happen only when the leaders succeed in building a national consensus on water conservation and hydropower projects.

In view of the Indian designs and the looming danger of water scarcity, we need to speed up efforts to build as many mega water reservoirs as was economically possible.